Shelving systems are commonly used for the efficient display or storage of consumer and other items. In their most basic form, shelving systems use fixed (non-adjustable) shelves. Such systems necessarily are designed with sufficient spacing between shelves to accommodate the largest or tallest object expected to be stored therein. A considerable storage volume can be wasted if such a system is used to store items smaller than those considered in establishing the design. Such wasted storage volume could be reduced by reducing the spacing between shelves, but only at the expense of no longer providing capacity to store larger items.
Manually adjustable shelving systems can decrease these inefficiencies by allowing the user to set shelf spacing as necessary for a particular application and to adjust the shelf spacing as needs change. However, manually adjustable systems typically require that items borne on a shelf be removed from the shelf before adjustments can be made. Power operated shelving systems can overcome this problem by allowing the user to adjust shelf spacing on demand, without first clearing a shelf of its contents. However, power operated shelving systems using conventional mechanical switch control interfaces also have limitations. For instance, mechanical switches typically include internal moving parts which are at least somewhat exposed to the environment. As such, contaminants, such as dirt or moisture, can enter the switch mechanism and increase the risk of malfunction or the severity of mechanical wear. Also, the discontinuities and crevices associated with mechanical switches can make such switches and the areas around them difficult to clean.
Further, mechanical switches typically have large profiles which makes it difficult to integrate them into the shelving system's overall design. For example, mechanical switches typically required a dedicated switch panel which might not easily be integrated into a shelving unit and might even need to be mounted remotely from the shelving unit. Moreover, because mechanical switches generally perform only a single function, a system wherein many functions need to be performed requires the use of a like number of such switches. Thus, the use of mechanical switches is disadvantageous in shelving systems wherein space conservation is an important consideration.